


Chrysalis

by Marshmallows



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marshmallows/pseuds/Marshmallows
Summary: Narmaya meets with the man once known as Zanba.





	Chrysalis

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! This is my entry for the [Granblue Secret Santa](https://twitter.com/gbfsanta)! I chose to write about Narmaya because I've always wanted to roll her since I saw her summer version last year ;w; I hope I did her justice even without owning her;; Let's hope for a 5* where she can be happy with herself one day!!

SCENE 1/4

It is said that something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings is all it takes for a tornado to form.

That day when Narmaya had met Djeeta had been a day like all the rest. The forest was as peaceful as ever, mediating had made her fall asleep again, while training day in and day out was the only way she knew how to live her life – and yet, that still was not enough. _He_ never visited home. He never came back. So, she waited, and trained, in hope that he would return. This was how she lived: chasing after a mirage of her memories, longing and clinging to a hope that one day, he’d come back for her. 

If only she was better. 

That day, she hadn’t expected a girl of her age – a captain no less – to suddenly seek her out and call her a swordmaster. Narmaya did nothing particularly special. She was in no way a master, when so many existed – when _he_ existed – that were so much more skilled. She was only living her life the only way she knew how. 

When Narmaya had followed Djeeta, it had all been on a whim, a hunch, and somehow everything had tumbled all into place. She had travelled far from home and seen the sea, doted on more people than she had ever seen before she had met Djeeta. She chased days of laughter and warmth that she had never even considered back when she only knew the mountains and the forest.

Little things like that filled her days, and on another day like all the rest, her fleeting whim to follow Djeeta blossomed into fruition. 

She never did think that they would meet again in such a random place. 

The sky was clear, the Grancypher in flight, with nary a disturbance in sight. It was the same deck she had seen day in and day out, the same crew members milling about at this time of day. However, she wasn’t on the deck purely without cause. She was pacing, leaden with the weight of her troubles. 

She had heard rumours of someone special joining the crew, whispers about how it was one of the revered Eternals. Her heart froze just as it always did when she heard that name that had stole him away. Her pulse raced, remembering all the times she had chased and climbed to reach the mountain of achievements he stood upon, but she would never reach him because she was never, ever good enough. He would never come back: to acknowledge her, to say that she was worthy, to say that she was enough.

It was Narmaya who had to find him. 

As foreboding in person as he was in her memories, Octo stood out against the clear sky, like a wall that blotted out the sun. He was intimidating: even sat down, his eyes closed, mediating in peace on a sunny spot of the bow of the Grancypher. He looked at peace, but Narmaya only felt dread pool in her stomach. Years and years of abandonment became butterflies in her stomach, that festered and threatened to become emotions that wanted to come out of her mouth like bile.

She wanted to cry, she wanted to run, she wanted– _needed_ to go.

To think their meeting would be from random happenstance, and not from him returning to her. 

Narmaya hadn’t said a single word since she had spotted him on the horizon, but still, Octo slowly lifted his head. That gaze that looked right through her had not changed one bit. 

“Do you not recognise me?” It was a demand that she knew the answer to already.

A pregnant pause that seemed to last for centuries, and then, he spoke with a voice like thunder: “I do not remember you, child.”

She knew it. She was an insect in this world: listless and weightless. 

Meaningless.

“Zanba!” She could hear her voice as if it weren’t her own, frantic and desperate and tiny, that only wanted to be told she was enough, “It’s me, Narmaya! We were once part of the same family.”

Octo only stared – right through her, as he always had.

“You are stuck in the past, when only the future remains.”

Not even a mosquito that needed to be swatted away; but a fly, insignificant in the world, in its life. 

Narmaya ran away, because this was all she needed to know that she was not enough.

* * *

SCENE 2/4

The sun rose and the moon set, but the passing of time didn’t matter to her. Not when her skills were so unrefined, not when she had to– needed to improve. Each second that passed when she wasn’t training was wasted, every wasted second risked her skills deteriorating.

“Narmaya.” 

A strong, noble voice finally disturbed her one evening. It was nearing midnight, and most had gone to bed, but Narmaya turned to face the owner of this disturbance.

“Heles…” Out of politeness, Narmaya sheathed her katana as sweat dripped down her forehead.

Heles offered her a smile. She was radiant – she always was – but a white sundress, a dainty shawl draped round her shoulders, and her figure bathed in moonlight, made her even more elegant than she usually was. 

“I must apologise for disturbing you, but I wish to inquire as to what is the matter,” Heles said, getting straight to the point. “As a fellow big sister, you can always sense when someone is upset, correct?”

“It’s… nothing really. I just want to train is all,” Narmaya said softly, but she could already hear the guilt seeping through her words.

Heles turned to lean against the railing. The Grancypher in flight always meant it was a little chilly on deck, and Heles adjusted her shawl in response, “All you’ve done is train for days on end. Narmaya, you are not a machine.”

“I used to practice like this all the time before I joined the crew,” Narmaya said desperately, “I’ve ended up slacking since I joined everyone. I need to get better, I need to get stronger.”

Heles cocked her head and stared straight at her, “Is returning to your old habits a form of improvement?”

Narmaya stilled. 

“You appeared so happy with the rest of us sisters. I cannot say the same for when I see you train now. There’s a certain desperateness to it all, and I wish to reconcile your thoughts. Tell me of your turmoil.”

“Heles…” Narmaya breathed in deep, and for the first time in days, she felt the crisp air refresh her lungs and she could acknowledge herself as alive. She leaned over the railing and stared down at the clouds that drifted on by without a care, “Meeting everyone in the crew has made me so happy… If I had never met Djeeta…”

Heles didn’t answer immediately. With Narmaya looking away, she never did see the gentle smile that lit up her face. 

“Go. Find her. Then, you’ll have your answer,” Heles said at last, as she pushed herself off the railing, “I believe I saw her on the bow a while back.”

Narmaya watched as Heles walked away, to join the company of the big sisterhood that had somehow formed when they had all gathered in one place. Her eyes lingered on Ferry and Esser, and as they caught one other’s eyes, they smiled back. This ragtag band of skyfarers came from all walks of life: a ghost, another of the Eternals, and though Narmaya knew she was only pretending to be a big sister, somehow they all still got along. 

She had seen so much, met so many people, known days of laughter and warmth that she would never have known if she had stayed in that forest. Narmaya nodded, and set forth on her path to find the one who started it all.

* * *

SCENE 3/4

“Narmaya! You came to us!”

“Eh?” 

Djeeta jumped off her perch and was already running up to her as soon as she had spotted her. As always, Lyria and Vyrn were by her side, and within moments, they had formed a circle of comfort around her, chattering and fussing over her. She had to admit that she felt a little odd having the roles reversed this way.

“When Octo came to join us… We kinda knew that sooner or later you’d bump into him…” Djeeta said, an apologetic smile on her face, “We didn’t know what to do when you actually did end up meeting him again…”

“We were getting really worried… You were training day in and day out,” Lyria said, distress clear on her face. Bless her pure heart, that would worry over anyone’s and everyone’s hint of sadness, no matter how small it was. 

“Yeah, we were even starting to miss how much you spoil us, Butterfly Girl!” Vyrn, of course, had to chime in with a cheeky comment of his own. 

“You were… worried about me?” Narmaya said, her voice barely above a whisper. 

“Of course!” Djeeta grinned wide, “Even big sisters need taking care of too!”

“Djeeta! Lyria! Vyrn!” As her gaze turned to each one of their smiles, Narmaya was suddenly aware of the wetness of her face – even though it wasn’t raining. 

They were tears: one after another, that began to roll down her cheeks to form a steady stream that echoed the sadness that she kept locked in her heart. As she dipped her head down to wipe at her tears, she felt the warmth of a hand upon her head. 

“Thank you for being so strong, Narmaya,” Djeeta said, ever so gently. “Thank you for always doing your best.”

She was here: among her friends, in the present, not the past. 

“Thank you so, so much. I’m… I’m… really glad I met you, Djeeta,” Narmaya managed to speak through her tears, “You truly are special!”

Even if she was an insect, even if she was insignificant, she wasn’t alone any more. It was only when she realised that a drop in the ocean created ripples, that created waves, that was the ocean itself, that she realised she was something more. 

She was an insect, a butterfly, and a flap of its wings were more than enough to set the course for a tornado.

* * *

SCENE 4/4

Perhaps, it wasn’t so bad.

If she was weak, she would become stronger. If she was insignificant, she would find her own meaning. If she controlled her own destiny, not to give it to the hands of someone else, then she could decide her own strength. 

With her hand on her hilt, her friends in her heart, she declared that day that she would chase this mirage no more. Instead, that day, on the deck of the Grancypher, she confronted Octo with a resolve. 

Octo – no, Zanba – was a spectre of her past, that chained her down and kept her there. Narmaya of the mountains, that knew nothing but training, that knew nothing of friendship and the world, was something of the past. While Zanba had gone to cast away his name and family in pursuit of strength, Narmaya had only clung to the past, and lived in shadows of regret and disappointment. While he had forged his own path, Narmaya had stayed behind, waiting for someone who would never come back. He would never come back: because the Zanba she was waiting for no longer existed, and it was never up to him for him to decide if she was enough. 

She was no longer a child, and he was no longer Zanba. 

She mattered. She was enough. If her friends thought that, then that should be enough, until it was drilled into her head and she too would accept it herself. 

She was a butterfly: a metamorphosis. 

That day, she returned to him and said with a voice like a storm, “I wish to challenge you, Octo of the Eternals!”


End file.
